So... I came up with this idea...

What if one's emotional state is contagious?

Now i don't mean that as soon as you enter a room feeling happy, everyone else is smiling like they just ate a space cake, oh no.

I mean throughout your daily life how many times have you considered the consequences of being rude, or short with someone, or even just the common courtesy of holding a door for someone, or saying "Thank You". It doesn't even need to be direct contact either. One could even make someone happy or cause someone harm without even knowing.

For instance; Whilst having a heated discussion on your phone lo and behold you offend someone you don't even know who is just a passer by!

What kind of domino effect could occur from just one such comment?

This person could forget it and continue on their way, but what if it clings to them ? Maybe they will go into a shop and be rude to the sales assistant, who in turn takes it out on their colleague, who is rude to another customer and so on...

Is it not true that we as a society focus on the negative aspects more frequently than the positives?

Does this mean that negative "energy" travels farther than positive goodwill?

I fear that it is impossible to judge whether this is the case because one's very presence, recording the path of the emotion would bias toward the goodwill because, lets face it, everyone wants to be seen as a good person.

This is more of a spur of the moment topic than i first considered...